The Miami Marlins have been linked to nearly every big free agent on this year's market: Albert Pujols, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, Prince Fielder, Ryan Madson, and so on and so forth. Add one more name to that list, as Clark Spencer from the Miami Herald is reporting that the Miami Marlins will meet with starter C.J. Wilson after Thanksgiving:
C.J. Wilson is making the rounds, and one of his East Coast stops will include a post-Thanksgiving visit to South Florida to meet with the Marlins, who seem to be throwing out the welcome mat for every available free agent. The Marlins met with Wilson's agent at the G.M. meetings last week in Milwaukee. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 13 teams are interested in the free agent left-hander.
The Marlins obviously don't expect to land every free agent that they're courting, but they seem to be putting themselves in position to make a run at a number of players and sign a handful of them. With staff ace Josh Johnson recovering from an injury that made him miss most of 2011, starting pitching is one of their offseason priorities, and Wilson is the top pitcher on the free agent market.
However, the Marlins will probably face stiff competition for Wilson. Although the Rangers will likely take a pass on him now that they are moving closer Neftali Feliz into the rotation, the New York Yankees are in desperate need of pitching and will likely make a hard run at Wilson. The Marlins don't have the deep pocketbooks to compete with the Yankees, so it still seems most likely that they sign Mark Buehrle instead of Wilson.
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